Sunday, December 25, 2011

And, welcome to Nonna's Craft Corner! I hope you are all having a wonderful, fabulous, blessed Christmas and are able to share this day with your loved ones. Today is my turn to post on the Pink By Design Blog and I would like to share my card with you here also....

I wanted a simple, yet elegant card to signify the importance of this very special day. A day that is being celebrated by millions of Christians around the world.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:
and the government shall be upon his shoulder:
and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor,
The Mighty God. The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Well...are you ready for the big day yet? I'm almost there....still a few little things to finish (always a few little things to finish...sigh). They can probably put that on my headstone when I die...lol!

Today is my sweet Emma's birthday...can't believe she is 7 years old today! The time has just flown by since I watched her take her first breath...and how she has grown! Emma was a wonderful baby, easy to take care and almost always happy. She is growing into a beautiful, sweet young lady who is still easy to take care of and almost always happy! She has also become my favorite crafting partner and loves to play in Nonna's Craft Corner. Of course, she has her own little craft corner here at our house, but she prefers mine! She tells me that I have way more "craft stuff" than her. And, I really can't argue with her there...lol! But, she is gaining on me daily!

Emma spent the night with me a couple of nights ago and we worked on a project to make sure Santa's reindeer had no trouble finding our house. We made reindeer food using the fun stamps from Jaded Blossom. I cut labels using my Spellbinders, stamped the poem and image and Emma colored the images using my copics and stickles....cause Nonna has more craft stuff....

We filled the bags with oatmeal and silver glitter so the moonlight will make the reindeer food shine and sparkle....

(what a happy little crafter!)

Hope you enjoyed Emma's fun project, she was really excited to share with you!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Hello everyone and welcome to Nonna's Craft Corner! Looks like I will be sharing my corner for now on! I received my Christmas present a few days early this year....and her name is Lola...

Lola is a Teacup Yorkie and she weighs in at a whopping 1.25 pounds!

I have wanted a Yorkie for a couple of years now and finally talked my hubby into it. Lola already has him wrapped around one of her tiny little paws!

She is already quite spoiled and is sitting in my lap as I type this up!

She is also a lot of work, it's like having a newborn in the house. But, she is doing well so far with the potty training stuff. However, I haven't crafted a thing since we picked her up on Saturday! That's ok, I'll just have to work overtime once we get this potty business down...please Lord, make it soon!

I also wanted to take a minute to say thank you for all the visits and comments on the layout I created for Emily's Back to the 80's Birthday Blog Hop.. That was such a fun hop and brought back so many memories! I had 48 comments and used Random Number Generator to chose number....

Congrats Miriam! Please use the Contact Corner tab at the top of my blog to email me your address so that I can send you the awesome Paisley background stamp!

I know things are crazy for everyone now as we wind down the Christmas countdown! And If I don't "talk" with you again before the big day, I wish you all luck in getting everything finished in time and I hope you all have the very happiest Christmas!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

In honor of her birthday, my very talented friend, Emily from Create Serendipityis hosting today's fabulous Back to the 80's Birthday Blog Hop! So, before we get started just let me say Happy Birthday Emily, I hope you have a wonderful day! What a fun way to celebrate your birthday! Emily has a wonderful line-up of talented friends to help celebrate her birthday today!

If you came to my blog from Stephanie's at Sweet Steph Card Creations, you are in the right spot! If you just stopped by for a visit and would like to start at the beginning of the hop so that you don't miss out on any of the fun (not to mention great prizes) you need to start at Emily's blog, Create Serendipity.

So, are you ready to get started with my project? Crank up your boom box with some totally rad tunes, make sure your hair is in a side ponytail and you have on your LA Gears! Here we go....

Last spring my granddaughter Emma had "Wacky Tacky Day" at school. We had a lot of fun pulling out clothes and accessories that she could use for her outfit. When we finished putting everything together and fixing her hair, I made the comment "You look like Cyndi Lauper!" Of course my 6 year old granddaughter (a child of 2004) had no clue who Cyndi Lauper was! Being her grandmother, it is my honor and duty to educate her on such things.....so...it was Google to the rescue! After downloading several pictures of Cyndi in her wild clothes and pink hair, Emma was a fan! While I was at it, I bought a few songs from itunes and without a doubt, Emma and I have a hand's down favorite Cyndi Lauper song.....

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun....

(click on photo to enlarge)

Recipe:

* This fun, hot pink, glittery cardstock is from the Femme' Fatale paper stack by Recollections.

* The neon green letters in the title are from the Cricut cartridge Birthday Bash

* The glittery stars are cut from Cricut's Rock Princess cartridge. I used lots of Martha Stewart glitter on the stars. I also cut two bottom layers so that I could use pop dots to lift the stars up from the cardstock and add some dimension to my layout.

* My sentiment mat is cut from the Spellbinders die Labels 11. I cut two labels out of black cardstock. Using VersaMark Ink, I stamped the background stamp Swirls from Pink By Design onto one layer of my black label. I used a hot pink embossing powder and my heat gun to give the stamp a bright, shiny neon look. Then, using pop dots, I adhered the two black labels.

* I typed up my journaling onto white cardstock, cut it using the Spellbinders die and added it to my sentiment label.

* I love, love, love the boom box! It's also cut from the Rock Princess cartridge. The speakers got a coat of black glitter and the antenna is covered with Glossy Accents.

* The musical notes are from Rock Princess "Heart Font".

*For the second page, I used a larger die in the Labels 11 set and this time I used a neon green for the embossing.

* My version of the fabulous Miss Cyndi Lauper is also cut from Rock Princess. I gave her pink hair a run through my Cuttlebug using the Divine Swirls folder. I added lots of glitter to her jewelery and layers of pink and black tulle made a fabulous, swirly skirt and fun hair bow!

But I see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors are beautiful,
Like a rainbow

(Ok, sorry about that...got caught up in the moment!)

So....that's my Back to the 80's totally rad scrapbook layout for you! I want to thank our birthday girl, Emily for inviting me to be part of this hop today! I had so much fun putting this layout together and it was fun to take a little walk down memory lane and have my granddaughter join me!

You're next stop on the hop is my fabulously talented friend, Candace at Scrappin' Two Little Princesses and I know she has something wonderful in store for you! But, before you go, I do have an awesome gift for one lucky follower today! How about the fabulous background stamp called Paisley from Pink By Design? Two simple steps will get your name in the running for this fun stamp:

1. Be a follower of my blog

2. Leave a comment on this post

Nothing to it! I'll chose a winner and post the winners name on December 21!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Hello everyone and welcome! I'm happy that you have found a minute or two during this busy holiday season to drop by for a visit! Are you stressed yet? I'm beginning to get that way. We have a very busy weekend ahead of us and I think once I get through that, I'll be ok.....maybe! I have most of my cards finished and mailed, however, I would like to make some "reindeer food" for all my great-nieces and nephews before our Christmas get-together. If only there were more hours in the day (awww...never mind....I would only find more projects!)

So, I am really loving the pink and green combo this Christmas. Here's my latest card in that color scheme....

* I added lots of Martha Stewart glitter in Sugar Cube and lots of bling.

(lots of sparkle!)

Well, that's about it for me...short and sweet today!

Don't forget that this Sunday (December 18th) will be the Back to the 80's Birthday Blog Hop in honor of my friend, Emily's birthday! Emily has about 20 talented ladies lined up and I know there will be some amazing projects and lots of goodies to be given away! I hope you will join us.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Hello everyone and welcome to my little corner of the crafting world! I hope your weekend is going well and you are making a huge dent in your Christmas preparations! I could get a lot more done if I would stay off this computer and stay in my craft corner! Between blog hopping, Facebook and Pinterest, I spend way too much time on this computer.

Speaking of Pinterest....are you as addicted as I am? I could (and have) spent hours just scrolling down the pages, oohing and aahing over all the fabulous creations! It's a wonderful, fantasy land for crafters! On one of my recent visits, I came across an ornament that had been made using strips cut from an old book and adhered to a Christmas ball. I loved the look of this ornament and the image really stuck with me. A couple of days ago, I decided to give it a try, with my own twist and this is what I came up with...

So, let me tell you how I put this fun ornament together. I started with one of those semi-flat, plastic ornaments that you can find at Michal's or Hobby Lobby. I wanted a glass ornament, but they were sold out. I wasn't sure how the plastic version would do, but it turned out fine. Here's the ornament I worked with....

* Using the Pink By Design stamp sets Christmas Wishes and Winter Fun, I added 2 sentiments to my stamp block. I inked them up using Distressed Ink in Barn Door Red and stamped the entire length of my 1/2 X12 inch strip of cardstock.

* After stamping the sentiments, I sniped them apart and inked up the edges....

* Now comes the messy part! Using Mod Podge (matte finish) and a foam paint brush, I started adhering the strips to my ornament. I don't have photos of this step for you because my hands were very full and very messy at the time!

* My best advice is to just go slowly. Think about your placement as you go and after adhering a few pieces, give them a chance to dry a bit before adding more strips.

* After the ornament was completely dry, I covered one side with a thin layer of Mod Podge and sprinkled it with some coarse glitter in Crystal. I let that side dry, then repeated the process on the other side.

* Once everything was dry, I added a green tulle bow and my ornament was ready to hang on our Christmas tree....

Now...I have to get off this computer and go wrap gifts, finish up Christmas cards, clean the house, do some laundry...oh what the heck...I think I'll go see what's going on at Pinterest. A few minutes won't hurt....see ya later!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Hi there and welcome to Nonna's Craft Corner! I hope your week is going well and your Christmas preparations are well under way. Can you believe that it is already December 8th? I don't know about you, but I still have so much to do. I haven't quite hit "panic mode" yet, but I know that it's lurking just around the corner! Hee...hee...as I write this, the song "The Grinch" just starting playing on my music channel...hmmmmmm?

Ok, so I have been working like a crazy woman to finish up my Christmas cards and gift tags! And, I worked on this tag I'm about to share to with you for waaaaay too long. It just didn't turn out like the vision that was floating around in my head and I'm not really sure if I even like it. But, having said all of that....I spent too much stinking time on this thing to not share it! So, here we go...

Recipe:

* I started with a pre-made Inksenntials tag and covered it with paper from the I Believe In Santa paper stack from The Paper Studio.

*The rosette is from my new Ribbons and Rosettes cartridge and is partly to blame for the time this project took! I just had to make a rosette from this new cart! I cut out a rosette strip from the cart, but when I put it together I really didn't like the way the little perforated cuts showed up. Maybe it was because it was on white paper, but they were just to noticeable to me. So, I used the Border from page 31 and cut two strips at 2 X 11 inches. I cut one of those strips down to 6 inches and joined them. Then I used my score board and made it the old fashioned way! I like the results from this method much better and inked up the edges with red ink.

*After spending so much time on the rosette, I grabbed a couple of Spellbinders and made the green and red mats for the center.

*I used my I Top to create the red brad in the center, after stamping some red cardstock with a sentiment from the Pink By Design stamp set Christmas Wishes.

*After adding all the layers to my rosette, I gave it a spritz of spray adhesive and sprinkled on some coarse glitter in Crystal.

Here's a close up of the rosette...

*The Christmas tree behind the rosette is also from the Ribbons and Rosettes cartridge and is cut at 4 inches. I embossed the tree with the Divine Swirls folder and gave it a sprinkle of coarse glitter.

* A few gems, ribbon and bling finished up my tag and I added some silver, glittery tulle to the top of my tag...and...there you go....

It may not be the vision I had floating around in my head, but...it's beginning to grow on me! And it sure does sparkle! Sparkle is good...right? Ok, that's it for me now, I've got to go wrap about a gazillion gifts...hmmm...wonder who is going to get this tag on their gift?

Thanks to Georgiana for letting me know about the fun challenge going on over at Die Cuttin' Divas, think I'll add my tag to the challenge!

Enjoy the rest of your day and go check off a couple more items on your "to do" list! See you soon!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Hello everyone and welcome to my little corner of the crafting world! I hope your week is off to a great start. It's been warm and yucky here for a couple of days and the rain started falling some time last night. I hope it cools things off a bit, it's hard to get into the Christmas mood when it's a balmy 78 degrees outside.

I have a quick, but cute Christmas card to share with you today....and...the winner's name for my little give away from the Christmas Cards Blog Hop. So, let's get started with my card. This one is for my sweet little grandson's Blake and Brayden. Since Brayden is only 3 months old, I'm pretty sure he's not going to be overly impressed with my card! But, Blake is almost 3 years old and I hope this card will serve as a reminder that Santa's Watching.....

Recipe:

* I love this fun paper stack from the Paper Studio - I Believe In Santa

* That cute little Santa is from the 'Tis The Season Cricut cartridge. I cut the Santa out at 5 inches. The bottom layer was cut twice and I used pop dots between the layers.

* Santa's hat is covered with white flocking and his beard is covered in Carrara Marble glitter by Martha Stewart.

* I added some eyelash yarn in glittery green (also from Martha Stewart) and a couple of jingle bells along the bottom border.

Here's the inside of my card...

* The stamp is one I've had for years and I really don't know who made it, but I thought it was perfect for this card!

I really love this cute Santa face. 'Tis The Season has really turned into my favorite Christmas cartridge this year. It has so many fun images...

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Hello everyone and welcome to Nonna's Craft Corner and The Christmas Card Blog Hop! I'm so excited today because I am a part of the Christmas Cards Blog Hop over at Creations With Becka . We have an exciting line up of ladies who have all created Christmas cards to give you ideas of homemade cards you can make to send to your friends and family this holiday season. So to start off, if you came from Beckie at Just Be Creative Crazy, than you are in the right place. If you just stopped by to say Hi, and would like to start at the beginning, just hop over to Creations With Becka. Make sure you go through the whole hop and comment on each blog so you are eligible for the grand prize blog candy Becka is giving away.

I don't know about you, but I love to give and receive handmade cards, especially Christmas cards. There is just something about a handmade card that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! This is my second Christmas to send out only handmade cards. I hope that everyone who receives a card from me will know that they while they may not be perfect, my cards were made with love.

Ok, so let's get started! For today's hop, I created a fun Christmas card and gift tag set....

For this cute little set, I used the Cricut cartridge 'Tis The Season. I am really enjoying this cartridge, it has so many wonderful images! Here's a close up of my card....

Recipe:

* I started out with a black, pre-made card and layered it with a piece of red cardstock.

* The Santa belt was created with the 'Tis The Season cartridge. I cut the belt at 2.5 inches.

* To get the look of leather, I embossed the black portion of the belt with the Cuttlebug folder Animal Prints. Then, I covered the black cut with Versa Mark Ink and clear embossing powder. I used my heat gun to set it and then repeated the process to get a really nice shine.

* The silver portions of the cut were covered with Martha Stewart glitter in Sterling.

Here's a close up of the belt, I hope you can see the embossing and shine a bit better...

* Just a note * - The belt on 'Tis The Season does not have the portion to the left of the buckle. The cut begins with the buckle and has the end of the belt to the right. However, I wanted the buckle to be centered on my card so that it would look like Santa's suit. So, I cut an extra strip of black and extra strip of the dark gray and just added them onto the left side of the buckle. This put Santa's belt in the center of my card.

* I added the "fur" trim to the bottom of Santa's suit and added 3 white buttons threaded with twine to the center of my card.

And, here's the inside...

* For the inside, I cut a layer of the dark gray cardstock and a smaller layer of white. I used my corner rounder on all the corners and inked up the edges with red ink.

* I added some of that cute red twine and used the stamp set Old Time Christmas from Pink By Design.

And, here's a photo of the gift tag...

* For my tag, I used 'Tis The Season again, cutting the tag at 5 inches.

* A bit of "fur" around the bottom and on the pom-pom gives a festive look!* I also used 'Tis The Season for that cute little twig of holly. The holly is cut at 2 inches and I added red Stickles to the berries.

* I punched a hole along the top and added some Maraschino twine from The Twinery to attach the tag to the handle of the bag.

And, that's my project for you today! I'm so happy that you stopped by and I hope you have enjoyed your visit. I do have a bit of blog candy to share with one lucky follower....

Just a few, fun embellishments for your Christmas cards!

All you have to do for a chance to win is:

1. Be a follower of my blog.

2. Leave a comment on this post.

That's it! I'll choose a winner and post the winning name on Tuesday, December 6th.

Now, it's time for you to get hopping again! Your next stop along the way is the very talented Melissa at Created By Missie. I hope you enjoy the rest of the hop!